Louisville, KY -
The No. 2/6 UCLA men's soccer team fell behind early and could not recover, dropping its 2011 season opener, 2-0, to No. 1 Louisville.

The match was played in front of a crowd of 7,821, which marked the largest crowd that Louisville has ever had for a soccer match at Cardinal Park.

The Cardinals got on the board at the six minute mark by way of an own goal by the Bruins. Midfielder Ryan Hollingshead attempted to head the ball back to goalkeeper Brian Rowe and the ball bounced into the net for a Louisville goal. UCLA saw its best chance to equalize in the 23rd minute as midfielder Eder Arreola put a shot on goal that was saved by Louisville goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux. Kelyn Rowe and Reed Williams also had chances in the 34th and 35th minute respectively, but each of their shots went wide. The game appeared to get physical for the rest of the half as the two sides combined for 12 fouls and two yellow cards in the first half. Neither side would have another shot on goal for the rest of the half either and the Cardinals went into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

At the very start of the second half (47th minute), Louisville increased its lead to 2-0 after forward Colin Rolfe received a long ball from midfielder Kenny Walker, dribbled around the defense and put it in the back of the net. The Cardinals kept the pressure on with four shots on goal in the next the 10 minutes, but Rowe made all four saves to keep UCLA in the match. Arreola and Williams once again had chances to cut the deficit down to one but Arreola's shot went high in the 73rd minute while Williams's shot was blocked in the 75th. The Bruins kept pushing though, as sophomore Victor Chavez's posted UCLA's second shot on goal in the 80th minute. However, Boudreaux was there yet again to deny the Bruins.

UCLA had one final chance to try to cut into the lead in the 88th minute as Williams put a header towards the net. But his shot was blocked before it reached the goal and the Bruins would see no more scoring opportunities the rest of the way.

Brian Rowe led the Bruins with four saves on the night while Arreola and Chavez recorded the only two shots on goal for UCLA.

The Bruins (0-1-0) will hit the road again next week as they take on the Santa Clara Broncos on Friday, Sept. 2nd at 7 pm.